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Marquette forward Sam Hauser gets off his three-pointer just before the buzzer that sends the Golden Eagles' game against Creighton into overtime Wednesday night. Steven Branscombe, Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Spor

The 5-foot-11 guard is a humble superstar. So he was quick to praise his teammates –just as he did after that game against the Friars last season and after scoring 45 points against both Kansas State and Buffalo this season.

"I play on a great team," he said when asked about his own performance. "My teammates were unbelievable. They fought so hard tonight."

Howard shot 15 for 26, including 10 for 14 on three-pointers.

The 53 points are an MU record and the most scored by a Big East player in any game. No player had ever hit the 50-point mark against Creighton.

"I felt my shots were going in," Howard said. "And Coach Wojo (Steve Wojciechowski) was saying, 'Just do what you do.' Even when I was making mistakes.

"They were still counting on me to make the right plays. That's what helped me do that, relying on my teammates to give me confidence."

"You just got to give him the ball when he's on like that," Hauser said. "Credit to him. He's an unbelievable scorer. He plays his heart out every night."

As crazy as it sounds, Howard's massive game was only part of the reason that the 17,085 fans who witnessed the game in person won't forget this game any time soon.

The Golden Eagles (13-3, 2-1 Big East) looked like they were headed to another blowout loss on the road this season after being noncompetitive at Indiana and St. John's.

The Bluejays (10-6, 1-2) came out firing and led by as many as 13 points in the first half.

MU kept plugging away and didn't get its first lead until Howard hit a jumper to begin overtime. He finished with 14 points in the extra five minutes.

That the Golden Eagles got the game to overtime was something of a miracle. Creighton looked like it was going to win as MU's Joseph Chartouny threw in a layup with one second remaining in the game to cut the Bluejays' lead to 85-82.

Then Creighton's Connor Cashaw tried to throw a deep pass that went out of bounds without any player touching the ball. That gave MU possession under its own basket with 0.8 of a second remaining.

Without any timeouts, the Golden Eagles were scrambling and Howard found Hauser a few steps beyond the three-point line near the left wing. He quickly shot the ball and it found nothing but net to tie the game.

The officials conferred for several minutes before deciding there wasn't any evidence to overturn the call of an official who signaled the shot good.

"I knew he was going to throw it to me," Hauser said. "It was my job just to get it off and give it a chance.

"I did that and it went in and we got a chance to go to overtime. And we capitalized on it. There were also a lot of other plays that led us to be in that position."

There were great plays all around in this game. Plays like MU sophomore center Theo John's four blocks, including two massive ones late in the game when MU desperately needed stops.

Chartouny also made some clutch plays and freshman Joey Hauser scored 13 points while playing with a poise beyond his years. Both of them sank crucial free throws late in overtime.

It all added up to heart-stopping action.

Wojciechowski could only sigh deeply into the microphone in the post-game news conference.

"That was one of the most incredible college basketball games I have ever been a part of," the MU coach said. "I know I'm not ancient. But I've been a part, playing and coaching, of some incredible games.

"I'm not sure I've ever been a part of a game like that. It's a game where somebody shouldn't have to lose.

"I hate that somebody had to lose the game. I'm happy that we won and the thing I'm most happy about is the toughness, that our guys stuck with it and stuck with it."

Wojciechowski could only shake his head at another unbelievable Howard performance.

"I guess we shouldn't be surprised, right?" Wojciechowski said. "He's done it enough, where on certain nights he's capable of being magical."